Distance Determination of RR Lyrae Stars AE Leo, AT Vir, and HY Com
Volume 50 number 1 (2022)
- Cody Soper
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; soperc46@students.rowan.edu
- Christopher Tenenbaum
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; soperc46@students.rowan.edu
- Adam Lounsbery
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; soperc46@students.rowan.edu
- Jarred Rheiner
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; soperc46@students.rowan.edu
- David Klassen
- Department of Physics and Astronomy, Rowan University, Glassboro, NJ; soperc46@students.rowan.edu
Abstract
We present the results of our observations and analyses of three RR Lyrae variable stars: AT Vir, HY Com, and AE Leo, in order to test period-luminosity relationships derived from stellar models. We have measured the periods of these stars to be 0.52359, 0.44898, and 0.63021 days, respectively, closely matching previous work. Period-Luminosity-Metallicity (PLM) relationships were used to calculate new distance values which averaged 1331 ± 41 pc, 957 ± 49 pc, and 2480 ± 76 pc for AT Vir, HY Com, and AE Leo, respectively. These measurements are compared with Gaia distances calculated from EDR3 parallax angles. Our results appear to generally support the PLM relationship with distance differences less than 2σ.